Depending on the type of Chicago style you are using, you’ll either create a notes-biblio style bibliography or an author-date style reference list. The author-date style is used a lot in the natural and physical sciences plus social sciences. Citations for books in the author-date style emphasize the author’s name and the date of publication. That’s because they’re considered the best way to identify the sources you’ve used to create your paper.
Using the author-date style is considerably easier than the notes-biblio style, because you don’t have two citations or entries for all the books you used as sources. In the text, you simply enter the author’s last name, date of publication, and page number(s). Example: (Smith 2010, 22).
Creating a Chicago/Turabian Reference List
When you use the Chicago/Turabian author-date style, you’ll be creating a reference list at the end of your paper, rather than a bibliography. As you may remember, a reference list is an alphabetical list of all the sources you used to create your paper. However, in Chicago/Turabian Style, this may include sources that helped in your research even if you didn’t cite them in your paper.
For this purpose, we’ll be focusing on the reference list entry format for books only.
Order of Elements
- Author
- Date (year of publication)
- Title
- Other facts of publication
How to Create Entries for Books
Creating citations in the author-date style is straightforward, especially for books. Authors’ or editors’ names are listed as “Last name, First name” for the first author and each author named afterwards is listed as “First name Last name.” Create a hanging indent using the same method as for an MLA hanging indent.
Single Author
Author’s Last Name, Author’s First Name. Year of Publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name.
Single Editor
Editor’s Last Name, Editor’s First Name, ed. Year of Publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name.
Multiple Authors
*use and between author names as shown. Note that the second author’s name is listed first name and then last name.
Two Authors
Author #1’s Last Name, Author #1’s First Name, and Author #2’s First and Last Names. Year of Publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name.
Three Authors
Author #1’s Last Name, Author #1’s First Name, Author #2’s First and Last Names, and Author #3’s First and Last Names. Year of Publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name.
Four or More Authors
When you create a reference list entry for four or more authors, you will use the same format as an in-text citation. Place it in parentheses and add the page number (XX).
(Author #1’s Last Name et al. Year of Publication, XX)
Example
(Smith et.al. 2010, 77)
Author With an Editor or Translator
Follow this format when a book has both an author and an editor. If it has a translator rather than an editor, follow the same format but use Translated by with the translator’s name rather than the editor’s name.
Author’s Last Name, Author’s First Name. Year of Publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Edited by Editor’s First and Last Names. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name.
Books – Other
If you are citing a source from a single chapter in an edited book, you’ll place the title of the chapter before the title of the book. Note that the period is inside the quotation marks. Use this format to create a reference list entry for a single chapter in an edited book in Chicago/Turabian style:
Chapter Author’s Last Name, Chapter Author’s First Name. Year of Publication. “Title of Chapter: Subtitle of Chapter.” In Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edited by Editor’s First and Last Names, YY-YY. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name.
*YY-YY indicates range of pages. e.g., 21-75
*XX = exact page number
Beyond Journals and Websites
When you’re researching and compiling your sources, it’s tempting to use all web sources, such as journals and websites; however, it adds weight to your arguments when you use print books as well. And now you know how to cite them properly in your paper, so you are in good shape.